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Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Chicago Braces for War after video of police shooting - Update II

Jason Van Dyke

Jason Van Dyke, a 14-year veteran of Chicago’s police force, has been accused of police misconduct at very least (data for 4 years is missing) 18 times, none of which led to a penalty.

Most of the complaints related to use of excessive force and racial slurs. The data shows that it’s rare for any officers to be penalized, and white officers were half as likely as black ones to be disciplined. Regardless of race, just four percent of the 56,361 allegations were sustained.

Arrests have been made after people hit Chicago streets Tuesday night to protest the police dashcam video showing the fatal shooting death of Laquan McDonald. Protestors are taking to the streets in Chicago chanting "16 shots" for the number of times the officer shot the teen.

Police shootings are frequent in Chicago, the third-largest city in the US with 2.7 million people, roughly one-third white, one-third black and one-third Hispanic.

From 2008-2014 there were an average of 17 fatal shootings by police each year, according to the Independent Police Review Authority, which investigates police misconduct. Virtually all shootings are found to be justified.

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Jason Van Dyke

CHICAGO — A white Chicago police officer was charged with first-degree murder on Tuesday in the death of a 17-year-old black man, just hours before city officials appealed for calm as they released a chilling video of the officer shooting the teenager as he lay crumpled on the ground.

Van Dyke shot the teenager 16 times. Van Dyke maintains he feared for his life when he opened fire. Van Dyke was on the scene for less than 30 seconds and was out of his car for about six seconds before he opened fire.

According to witnesses McDonald did not do anything threatening toward Van Dyke and the other responding officers before he was shot to death. Police did nothing to help the dying teen. Van Dyke was charged with first degree murder and stripped of his pay and policing powers. He is being held without bond.